Iraq: 35 dead in clashes, bombing as tensions rise

BAGHDAD (AP) ? Clashes erupted Wednesday between the Iraqi army and armed Sunni tribesmen who sealed off a central Iraqi town, leaving 22 dead, just a day after a bloody incident involving soldiers and protesters set off fighting that killed 56 people.

Other violence Wednesday killed 13.

The unrest is heightening Sunni-Shiite tensions and raising fears that the country could be headed toward a new round of all-out sectarian violence.

Wednesday's fighting broke out after tribesmen blocked roads leading to the Sunni town of Qara Tappah, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) northeast of Baghdad.

Iraqi troops arrived to try to clear the city. Fierce clashes erupted, and helicopters fired at the gunmen. Police say 15 gunmen and seven soldiers were killed.

In other violence, three gunmen were killed when they attacked a security checkpoint near the former al-Qaida stronghold of Mosul, about 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad.

Later, a car bomb struck a police patrol north of Baghdad, killing a policeman and two civilians, according to police.

After sunset, a car bomb near a bus stop in Baghdad's mostly Shiite neighborhood of Husseiniyah killed seven people and wounded 23 others.

Hospital officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information to reporters.

The fighting came a day after security forces stormed a Sunni protest camp in the town of Hawija, sparking deadly clashes and a spate of other attacks, mostly targeting Sunni mosques, that killed at least 56 people.

The Tuesday raid in Hawija drew harsh condemnations from Sunni leaders and foreign diplomats, raising fears that Iraq is being pushed back toward all-out sectarian fighting like the underlying conflicts in the civil war in neighboring Syria.

Human Rights Watch on Wednesday urged Iraqi authorities to ensure that any investigation into the Hawija killings takes into account allegations that security forces used excessive force. The rights group noted that there have been reports that security forces attacked demonstrators without provocation.

Iraq's Defense Ministry said it entered the protest area to try to make arrests over an attack on a nearby checkpoint several days earlier, and its forces came under heavy fire from several types of weapons, as well as snipers.

Tuesday's bloodshed followed four months of largely peaceful protests staged by Iraq's Sunni minority against the Shiite-led government.

Iraqi Sunnis say they face discrimination, particularly in the application of a tough anti-terrorism law that they believe unfairly targets them. The government frequently carries out arrests in Sunni areas on charges of al-Qaida or ties to the deposed Baathist regime of dictator Saddam Hussein.

___

AP writer Adam Schreck contributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iraq-35-dead-clashes-bombing-tensions-rise-164746196.html

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France Tel CEO to face court in corruption probe

PARIS (Reuters) - France Telecom's chief executive is to appear before the disciplinary wing of a French court in charge of auditing public spending as part of a probe into alleged corruption when he was a government aide.

Authorities are investigating the French government's decision in 2008 to award tycoon Bernard Tapie 285 million euros ($370.37 million) in damages as part of his long-running battle with now-defunct bank Credit Lyonnais over the 1993 sale of his stake in sports clothing firm Adidas.

Stephane Richard was at the time chief of staff to then-finance-minister Christine Lagarde, who today heads the IMF. He confirmed to French daily Le Monde that he had been summoned by the Budgetary and Financial Disciplinary Court, part of France's public Cour des Comptes audit body.

"I have nothing to hide in this affair," Richard was cited as saying.

Neither the disciplinary court nor France Telecom could be reached for comment.

Christine Lagarde has also been summoned to appear before a court at the end of May to answer questions over her role in the payout to Tapie.

(Reporting by Chine Labbe; writing by Lionel Laurent; editing by Keiron Henderson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/france-tel-ceo-face-court-corruption-probe-111554047--finance.html

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Cooking Tips To Help You Cook Like A Pro | Easy Home Made ...

TIP! When you will be busy the next day, make some preparations for dinner for the next day. You can serve a hot, satisfying meal quicker and with less stress if you have it prepared when cooking time rolls around.

How many times have you dreaded going into the kitchen to make breakfast, lunch, or dinner? You might need a new perspective. Cooking can be enjoyable and relaxing if you try to see it in another way. Here are a few cooking tips that are sure to get your taste buds tingling and entice your inner chef to come out.

TIP! Only cook with wine that you would actually drink. Because wine will have a big impact on the flavor of your food, a bad wine can result in a bad meal.

When you are aware that you have a busy day coming up, prepare some of the dinner ingredients the night before. You can really save yourself some time and worry by assembling your meals, like a meatloaf, ahead of time so it is oven-ready for dinner.

TIP! Read nutrition labels when you buy foods. Lots of common supplies used for cooking contain unhealthy ingredients that you didn?t even know were there.

Macaroni and cheese should be cooked with careful attention to the instructions. By following the instructions closely, you are far less likely to overcook your noodles. Mushy noodles make for an unappealing dish. Use a non-slotted spoon to serve macaroni and cheese. Another great tip is to spice things up a bit with some black pepper.

TIP! In recipes that call for milk or water, try substituting more flavorful liquids. If the recipe calls for water, try using chicken or beef broth, or even the water that you used to cook your vegetables in.

A pie crust should be baked a little bit longer than you would think. Judge their color, not the time in the oven to determine if they are done. They will be golden brown when cooked. The crust changes to the caramel color only after the sugar has had time to caramelize. This will give the crust the sweet flavor you want.

TIP! When preparing a large family dinner, do some prep work the night before to decrease stress and leave time for you to enjoy everyone. You can cut up vegetables and onions, marinate your meat or make a sauce in the evening before you head off to sleep.

Apples don?t have to be just for fall or winter cooking. With proper storage they can last for months. Air that is warm or dry will cause apples to spoil, so it is important to place them in a plastic bag, knotted loosely and keep them in a cool place. Check your apples regularly. If one apple starts rotting, the whole bag will be spoiled.

TIP! If you have turkey for a meal, whether it?s on a holiday or another occasion, make sure you keep the leftovers. Cut it up and freeze it in an airtight container.

Now you may have fresh fruit at anytime during the year. In addition, it will allow you to eat fruits that are not currently in season when you crave them.

TIP! If you are going to make macaroni and cheese, follow the instructions. The macaroni will turn out perfectly if you do this, and you will have an amazing dish once the cheese is completely melted on the noodles.

Do some research about fruits or vegetables you have never cooked with before. It takes only a short time to dig up some information on a new food, and you may come to learn that it?s versatile enough to use in many of your dishes. Learning about the foods you?re cooking with will make the cooking experience more enjoyable.

TIP! Use your own stock for more flavorful food. Make as much of it as you want and keep the excess in your freezer.

If you have the time, always reheat oily dishes in the oven as opposed to the microwave. This will keep you from having a greasy mess. The high heats in a microwave will force the oils to separate. Baking works differently from a microwave by heating the dish consistently and evenly through. This avoids the oily mess and the dish keeps all of its original flavor.

TIP! When you have a large or complicated meal to prepare, you can eliminate a lot of the stress by doing any prep work the day before. There are a lot of things you can do ahead of time like chopping vegetables, measuring seasonings and gathering all the utensils you will need.

Wok-fried rice is a delicious meal and a simple way to use up some of the leftover meats and veggies that are still sitting around in your fridge. Rice that is a day old and cool is the best to use. If you have to cook it fresh, don?t use as much water so it?s drier. Fry all the veggies and meat with some oil, and then add in the rice, followed by seasoning with garlic, ginger, soy sauce and additional spices.

TIP! Use a thick-skinned baking potato for firmer-shelled twice baked potatoes. Red potatoes are too thin-skinned to hold up to a dense filling.

Implement these tips into your meals. Once you eat some of your meals, you will know you did the right thing. You may begin to look forward to it, and eventually you may discover you?re eager to try new recipes and dishes. Start cooking now!

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Source: http://www.easyhomemadechocolate.com/cooking-tips-to-help-you-cook-like-a-pro/

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Nokia's co-developed high-amplitude mics retain 10-month exclusivity, HTC has to look elsewhere

Nokia's injunction yesterday has now been made a little more concrete. The Amsterdam district court has handed down a 10-month ban on STMicroelectronics selling its high-amplitude mics to anyone other than the Finnish phone maker. The same dual-membrane microphone is used in both the Lumia 720 and the HTC One, but Nokia (which co-developed and designed the component) had signed a 12-month exclusivity deal with the chipmaker -- a deal that STMicroelectronics apparently thought was only six months long.

According to All About Phones NL, the ruling won't halt sales of One devices already out there, with the court stating that HTC was "blameless" and that it couldn't have known about the contract between Nokia and STMicroelectronics. In short, you'll still be able to buy HTC's flagship in the Netherlands with those dual high-amp mics in tow -- at least for now. We've reached out to both companies for comment, but it's shaping up to be another parts supply woe for HTC's new smartphone.

Filed under: Cellphones, HTC, Nokia

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Via: All About Phones NL

Source: Amsterdam District Court filing

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/vDi9YE_6YSU/

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Loopholes in the UK's Higher Education sector | PakMed Info Forum ...

The bylaws of almost all UK universities are short of using the word ?shall? and they substitute it with the words ?will? and ?should?

For the purpose of education, the UK is divided into two halves: England (and Northern Ireland) and Scotland. Each of them has its own body that supervises quality assurance in its part of the higher education sector. For instance, in England (and Northern Ireland), the job is carried out by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) for Higher Education while in Scotland it is the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO).

In 2011, the UK government published a white paper, ?Students at the Heart of the System? to enhance quality assurance in higher education through the participation of students. In the light of this, the QAA is trying to find new ways of reviewing quality assurance in higher education to be implemented in the universities of England (and Northern Ireland) by September 2013. Similarly, in order to augment quality assurance at Scottish universities in the light of the Sinclair report, the SPSO issued its Model Complaints Handling Procedure (MCHP) for Higher Education in December 2012 to be adopted by all Scottish higher education institutes by September 2013. The UK government?s white paper laid emphasis on the standardisation of criteria for assessing academic standards and the quality of the student learning experience at all universities and colleges; the Sinclair report recommended the adoption of a standardised MCHP in all Scottish universities and colleges.

Generally, the UK?s every university is driven by two factors: first, how to meet its financial earning targets set for any given year, and second, how to improve its position on the universities? ranking table. Any incident of compromise on quality assurance affects adversely a university?s ranking, and consequently, its financial targets. Though the standardisation of the assessment process and the standardisation of MCHP were long overdue, they share a common point: the emphasis of both is still on procedures. This is despite the fact that the cause of the compromise on quality assurance in the past used to be the universities? devising mechanisms to bypass the procedures but retaining their positions on any ranking table.

One of the ways to assure quality through procedures is by obtaining feedback from students. It is a common practice in the UK?s universities that teachers (lecturers and professors) and graduate or post-graduate school administrators influence students, especially overseas students, either to give positive feedback or to make oneself absent from the session meant for gathering feedback from them, whether or not the feedback is obtained at the university or the supra-university level (by the QAA or the SPSO).

The question is this: can an overseas student dare refuse any such ?request? made by a teacher or administrator? The answer is in the negative because the student is told that in case of noncompliance his/her supervisor will not issue a favourable letter of reference to help him/her forward his/her career in the future. It is difficult for an overseas student to turn down such a request because his/her stakes are higher than home students. In this way, the letter of reference has become a major blackmailing instrument in the hands of supervisors (and course administrators). The threat of writing adverse remarks in the letter of reference is used to silence those students who are vocal against the delivery of low quality education and research at the UK?s universities. In this regard, both the QAA and the SPSO have failed to introduce any mechanism to know why a student is absent from the feedback session or why a student has not submitted the feedback at all, especially where the name of the student is mandatory to be mentioned. Secondly, both the QAA and the SPSO have failed to make it mandatory on all students including overseas students to submit their feedback. Thirdly, both the QAA and the SPSO have failed to determine the difference between representative feedback and non-representative feedback.

The second type of students? comments on quality assurance in the UK?s higher education is through the complaints they lodge against the universities in the universities. Again, both the QAA and the SPSO lay emphasis on the procedure of complaints adopted by the UK?s universities. Complaints and their procedures are described in the bylaws of the UK?s universities. Interestingly, in the bylaws of one university, one provision (law) is present while in the bylaws of another university another provision (law) is present. For instance, in the bylaws of several UK universities (without naming any university), the word ?complaint? has not been defined or if it is defined the word ?compensation? has been omitted. Similarly, certain universities do mention the term ?appropriate and reasonable compensation? in their bylaws but do not explain the meaning of that term. Likewise, the bylaws of almost all UK universities are short of using the word ?shall? and they substitute it with the words ?will? and ?should?. The absence of key terms prohibits students, especially overseas students, from filing a complaint and reporting their grievances. Again, the procedure is ineffective in assuring quality in the UK?s higher education sector. In this regard, both the QAA and the SPSO have failed to focus on the standardisation of the bylaws of the UK?s universities. Secondly, both the QAA and the SPSO have failed to notice the absence of key terms from the bylaws of the UK?s universities.

At this juncture, the concern of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan should be whether the degree obtained by an overseas Pakistani student from even any top ranking UK university is the same (not by its name or caption but) in quality that the HEC had thought it would be?

There are other loopholes in the UK?s higher education sector, which have not been mentioned here owing to the limitation of words. If the British Council (which speaks on behalf of the British High Commission) considers it appropriate, the challenge of debate given to it by this writer on the topic on April 10 this year is still open.

Courtesy: Dr Qaisar Rashid (The writer of this article)

Source: http://pakmed.net/college/forum/?p=76693

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Apple's cash plan takes heat off Cook, buys him time

By Poornima Gupta and Ben Berkowitz

(Reuters) - Tim Cook wants investors to "think different" about Apple: less as a hyper-growth startup-like company and more as a mature but robust technology corporation with the world's most lucrative dividend.

If Wall Street follows Apple's famous advertising slogan of old, it may relieve some of the pressure on Apple's chief executive, quiet investors' grumbling about its recent share price slide, and buy the company time to do what it says it does best: come up with and market new products.

On Tuesday, Apple said it would return $100 billion to shareholders by the end of 2015, in part by raising its dividend 15 percent and in part by increasing its share buyback program six-fold to $60 billion.

To some extent, the expanded capital return program helped mask its first quarterly profit decline in a decade, though analysts say the more important issue now is what Apple has in store on the gadget front.

Cook is trying to reset heightened expectations around a company once universally feted for its ability to captivate both consumers and Wall Street. In the years following the introduction of the iPhone in 2007 and the iPad in 2010, the company established a pattern of consistently blowing past even the most bullish Wall Street earnings expectations, much to everyone's delight.

But on Tuesday, Cook made the rare admission to analysts on a conference call that Apple's growth has slowed and margins have decreased.

Apple is a mature company that's now trying to get everyone to see it as one, analysts say.

"They are modulating into a state where the highs are not as high and lows are not so low," Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps said.

Apple shares moved 5 percent higher Tuesday on the back of the capital program, though the gains evaporated later.

Any gains would have come as little consolation to investors who have watched Apple shed more than $280 billion in market value in the last few months as investors adjusted to a new, slower-growth reality.

Roger Kay, president of researcher and consultant Endpoint Technologies Associates said the expanded share repurchase and dividend scheme would keep investors satisfied for a while.

In the longer term, Apple needs another blockbuster gadget to accelerate its momentum -- and win investors back for the longer term. Cook tried on Tuesday to drum up enthusiasm around the product pipeline by teasing that "some really great stuff" -- potentially in new product categories -- was coming in the fall and in 2014.

"They need something that breaks into new verticals, whether it's TV or something that's wearable, that opens up a new revenue stream," Epps said.

RESETTING THE SCALE

That remains among the most pertinent concerns for Apple-watchers. Since Cook took over in 2011 from late co-founder Steve Jobs, some investors have questioned whether Apple can continue to up-end technology markets with new revolutionary products that appeal to consumers in the absence of the tech icon.

Cook has in the past year presided over three straight quarters of missed revenue expectations before the January-to-March period. The key product introduced during his tenure is the smaller iPad mini, a response to tablets such as Amazon.com Inc's Kindle that were making inroads on its home turf.

The public takes as a given that a new iPhone and new iPads will come this year, along with refreshed Mac computers and iPod music players. But the speculation is that Apple is also working on a watch, a television and a radio service, among other products in the pipeline.

Cook would not provide any more details on new products, no surprise given the company's penchant for secrecy.

Some investors remain confident the Apple magic remains.

"The bar has been reset in terms of expectations and guidance. They have done the right thing by issuing debt and doing a large buyback," said Jason Jones, who runs tech hedge fund firm HighStep Capital and confessed to being an Apple bull.

"The company will go through this quiet period for product release and then, starting in the summer and for the remainder of the year, product announcements will pick up and likely the stock will react favorably to that."

While Apple is still growing -- no small achievement for a company with sales well over $100 billion -- its pace of growth has slowed as high-end smartphone adoption approaches saturation and rivals flood the market with cheaper devices, which are popular in high-growth developing countries like China and India.

Cook on Tuesday acknowledged that Samsung, which has smartphones in all price categories, is its top competitor. Apple also said it does sacrifice margin in the short-term, as it did with the iPad mini, if executives believe a product has long-term potential.

"Apple is in the transition phase from growth to a value company," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Asset Management. "Growth companies tend to put every penny back in, but that is not the case with Apple here."

(Additional reporting by Alistair Barr; Editing by Edwin Chan and Ken Wills)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/apples-cash-plan-takes-heat-off-cook-buys-031827140--finance.html

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Black Label Society Rumored For 2013 'Gigantour' | Theprp.com ...

It would appear that Black Label Society will be among the acts on this years ?Gigantour?, which thus far features Megadeth, Device and Death Division. Referencing the resolution of a dispute between his now former other band, Breaking Benjamin; Black Label Society drummer Chad Szeliga mentioned that he will be opening for Megadeth this summer. He made the the below post on his Facebook in regards to the matter:

?To all my fans of breaking benjamin this hurts me to say this. My duties of being the drummer of BB is finally over due to creative differences. I wish all the guys the best with the future. Mark and Aaron have started a new band called star dog champion and I wish them the best with their move.

I have a busy schedule opening for megadeath this summer then doing a run on our own and finally a record in the works. I have a new family with Bls and I will continue to write and play the best for all my fans. Please come support me in my new chapter in my life. I wish everyone well and God bless from the bottom of my heart. Good luck for the new members of BB who ever it is. ? I will go on until the end ??

Source: http://www.theprp.com/2013/04/22/news/black-label-society-rumored-for-2013-gigantour/

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